Always have a back-up plan
by Muismiep
Summary: One of the first things Harry learned was to always have a back-up plan. And a back up of the back up, and a back-up of the back up... Well you get the idea Rated T because I put some heavily flirting in it. No romance, only suggested romance. Non Hinny fans, you will be fine.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: By Beta hasn't read this yet, so I apologise for spelling mistakes in advance. I will update the correct version when he comes back from vacation. (lucky bastard)**

* * *

**Always have a backup plan!**

* * *

"Invisibility cloak?"  
"Check!"  
"Dungbombs?"  
"Check!"  
"Dungbombs?"  
"For distraction."  
"Right. Continue."  
"Marauders Map?"  
"Check!"  
"Wands?"  
"Of course I do, do you think I'm stupid?"  
"You know Fred, he has a point."  
"I agree dear brother."  
"Our own boy-who-pranks…"  
"Would never walk around the school…"  
"Without a wand."  
"Stupid of us…"  
"Yeah well, we only got three O.W.L.'s, what did they expect of us?"  
"_Continue_."  
"Yes Sir!"  
Harry rolled his eyes at the Weasley boys antics. Trust them to turn a serious mission into one big joke. He quickly looked around, swearing he could feel someone watching him, but a quick service scan proved no results.  
The twins continued talking so Harry reluctantly focused back on their conversation.  
"Gred, did you think of today's back up plan?"  
"Yes I did, it is good to go."  
"I hope it's better than last time boys, that one was just ridiculous." Remembering the pink ferret's in green tutu's was not something Harry liked to remember.  
"Aww, come on Harry…"  
"Admit it…"  
"You found that one funny."  
"It was so so, I've seen better." Knowing the twins for 5 years now, Harry knew how to push their buttons.  
"If you weren't the son and godson of the holy Marauders, minus one of course, you would be pranked right _now_."  
"And _you_ wouldn't have the Marauders Map _or_ an invisibility cloak."  
"I think he got us there dear brother…"  
"Shame, he always wins our discussions with blackmail."  
"We are so proud of him…"  
While Fred and George were wiping their fake tears away Harry scanned the common room again. The feeling of being watched was stronger than the last time. Sure enough he found a pair of brown eyes watching him from one of the couches.

* * *

Ginny rose from the couch on the backside of the common room and slowly walked towards the three pranksters. She had a pretty good idea what they were about to do, and she wanted in. Not every day she had the chance to retaliate against Umbridge. What she did to Luna was unforgivable, she didn't even write that article, that was her father. No, she had to pay. Big time. She walked right up towards the boys and looked right into their eyes.  
"You are going to prank Umbridge right?"  
Harry looked at her sceptically, like he was trying to figure out what was safe to say to her. He trusted her but in this climate at school, you couldn't even trust your friends. He learned that the hard way with Dean and Seamus. The scars were still visible. "And what if we do?"  
"Oh cut the crap. I know you are pranking Umbridge and I want in." There, all cards on the table. We Weasley's don't do small talk, we go straight to the point. And if they didn't agree she still had some… interesting information about them to tell her mother.  
The boys looked at each other for 3 seconds before turning towards her.  
"Welcome on the team!" Fred and George gave her a pat on the shoulder and Harry excitedly shook her hand.  
"Wait, just like that?" She imaged big negotiations, a few Dungbombs and revealing some pranks of her but all she had to do was ask!?  
Harry looked at her with a smile. "We know about your pranks at night, I've seen you sneaking around the castle to many times. We just wanted to make sure you weren't going to rat us out."  
"Damnit, and I thought I was so smooth."  
"Oh but you are." Harry smiled. "Or at least, we think so. A 1 out of 10 caught record is pretty impressive."  
"Go ahead Harry…"  
"Make her ego even bigger…"  
"Now she thinks she is as good as we are…"  
"We can't have that."  
Ginny rolled her eyes. "That is what team-ups are for you idiots. To make sure nobody gets a big egotistical head. And for the record, I would never rat you out. I like to admire your ass and I can't do that when you're in detention."  
The twins groaned and covered their ears chanting. "Not again…"  
"Not again…"  
"Not again…"  
Harry ignored the twins and turned towards the smirking red head. "So, you like to check out my ass huh. Wait till you see the front, even more impressive."  
"Well then mister Potter, it seems we need to put our pranking plans on hold. I can't let you go without checking that claim."  
"Damn, I thought I really had you there."  
It was a well common know fact that Ginny had a huge crush on Harry. To the point that she would run from the common room when he walked in. Harry was uncomfortable, he wanted to get to know her, be her friend but he never got the chance. He asked Hermione about it but unfortunately the twins overheard his question and gave him the answer themselves. Go flirt with her, get her to go over her crush to become friends. Hermione promised to make sure Ginny knew it was flirting to help her over her crush, not actually hitting on her. They all agreed they didn't want to break her heart.  
At first it was just plain out hilarious for the people around them. Harry, as expected of a 13-year-old boy, was horrible at flirting and Ginny still blushed tomato red. But in the years to come the common room began to regret encouraging them to flirt because as soon as they had mastered the art of flirting, they used it every time they could and now the common room was victim of their endless flirting war. The one who blushes loses. It was driving the whole school mad. Even Ron had locked them in a cupboard more than once saying. "Oh just get together you two." Not that it helped. They would make some well-placed noises and a fuming Ron would unlock the cupboard once again.  
Harry opened his mouth to start another round when another voice interrupted him.  
"Hey! Are you going to prank or not? I can't keep everyone distracted forever." Hermione was walking towards them with an irritated look on her face.  
"Don't worry Mione, we're going!" Harry and the twins saluted and went out of the portrait hole towards the hallway. Giving Hermione an eye roll Ginny followed the boys out of the common room and into dangerous territory. _How did they get Mione at their side? Must have been a hell of a negotiation._

* * *

Looking left and right to see if the coast is clear the boys crept out of the portrait hole. Checking the Marauders map again the boys checked if the coast was still clear. That was a clear message they had learned after a few detentions: Never assume, always check.  
"Rounds are normal and minimal prefect coverage. Looks like we're safe for now boys. AU! Fine! Looks like we're safe boys _and girl_. Yeez, now we know why you don't have a boyfriend. AU, Alright alright I'll stop." Harry muttered massaging his ribs. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw something that made his night a success already. "Oh would you look at that, someone is about to get busted." He pointed at the dot of a certain Draco Malfoy with an extremely close standing dot of Pansy Parkinson. The four of them saw the dot of a certain Minerva McGonagall moving closer and closer until she stood still before the door. They snorted when they saw the two being escorted back to their common room by the Professor. "That gives us one Professor less to worry about."  
"I don't think so." Ginny pointed out. "Look, if she takes that way, she will end up in the entrance hall."  
"Oh…"  
"Bugger." Even swearing the twins couldn't escape their twin speak.  
"I take it the plan was to go to the Great Hall?"  
"Damnit!" Harry swore. He did what he always did when coming across a problem, he began pacing. He unconsciously pulled his hand through his hair. "It's too soon to go to prank b. Everyone agree to keep prank a but keep the backup plan close by?" Everyone nodded, he wanted to say something but Ginny was faster.  
"Wait, backup plan?"  
"Yes Ginnykins, a backup plan…"  
"Is that so surprising?"  
"Of course not," Ginny shrugged, "it's rule One of the pranking book. 'Always have a backup plan in case something goes wrong.' Everyone knows that."  
"Look Harry…"  
"Everyone knows the first rule." The twins smirked at the boy. And Harry grumbled.  
"Alright alright. I give, you were right." He pointed at the gloating twins. "Gloating can wait till later, we wasted enough of our time. Let's start this prank. Ginny, you're with me. Gred, Forge, you are team solid. We take team scout."  
"We really…"  
"Really…"  
"Need to find better names for that."  
"Shut up and go to work."  
"Yes boss."  
"3 minutes."  
The twins saluted. "We know boss." They placed a camouflage charm on themselves and hid against the wall. Because Harry had the Marauders Map and the invisibility cloak they needed to be careful. Anyone could come around the corner every moment.

* * *

Harry threw his cloak over his and Ginny's heads and put a silencing charm over the cloak. "So we can talk while under the cloak. I advise to whisper, just in case. I resized it so we can walk next to each other. Learned that lesson last year."  
"Was that the night you came back all red in the face from a prank?"  
"Yeah, three people under a small cloak was no success. We were pressed together to evade Filch. At some point I seriously debated making run for it."  
"Oh you big whiner. But I'm glad for it, it means I get more space for myself." Ginny immediately regretted her words, knowing she made an opening for his flirting. After flirting for years with him she knew when he would start his attack.  
"My my Miss Weasley, isn't it every girls dream to be pressed together with the one and only boy-who-lived." Harry teased. Unfortunately for Harry Ginny only laughed and smacked him on the arm. "Nice try, don't get that ego to high or it wouldn't fit under the cloak anymore. And pouting won't work either."  
Harry sighed, he knew he lost this round. "We need to get moving, or the twins will beat us to the finish line."  
Moving slowly forward the duo made their way to the Great Hall, checking every corner on the Marauders Map. But even with the Marauder Map in their possession they couldn't prevent this incoming threat.

* * *

It always goes wrong somewhere. Even the best thought out plans have a flaw somewhere that can collapse the whole plan. And in their case, it was a fuming McGonagall. Harry quickly pressed Ginny an him against the wall to avoid a collision with the Professor in question. Harry made a sign for her to be quiet, Ginny simply answered with a raised eyebrow. It was not like this was her first rodeo. Harry nodded and they both held their breaths. Standing still before them was a Professor who had, thanks to her cat animagus, an amazing nose. Swearing under his breath Harry quickly cast a charm that would mask their body scents. Sure enough Minerva her nose twitched once, twitched twice, twitched even thrice. But it appeared she couldn't find the source of the smell because she resumed her patrol towards the next corridor.  
Harry and Ginny both took a deep breath before Harry softly pushed Ginny away and pulled a coin out of his pocket, he ignored her curious look and double tapped the coin with his wand. Ginny opened her mouth to ask what the hell was going on but Harry held his hand up signalling her to be quiet. The coin vibrated and he tapped the coin again and put the coin back in his pocket. He looked up at Ginny. "We stole the idea form the DA coins and modified it into something cooler."  
Ginny raised her eyebrow. "Like activating a backup plan?"  
"Exactly."

* * *

"No Gred, Mandarin root into that one would increase the pain effect, not remove it." George pulled away from the wall and started to walk towards the Great Hall. The 3 minutes were over, Harry and Ginny should be well on their way, if not, already there.  
"You could be right about that Forge. What if we used Moonblossem seeds?" Fred quickly followed his brother. He knew they were taking a risk, talking out loud in the night, but he felt they were on a breakthrough. And that, was a lot more important than a little detention.  
Although, Harry would kill them for screwing up. And Ginny would never stop teasing them. Maybe they should put this conversation to rest until they were safe in their dorms.  
"You know Gred, you could be right about that. And in combination with Baradin leaves it would increase the effect"  
Fred completely forgot his last decision to shut up, he became enthusiastic again at the idea of solving their problem. "You know Forge? I think we are amazing."  
"No, I am amazing, you just look good."  
"I'll take it, girls dig beauty, not brains."  
"Keep dreaming. They dig brains. Look at our scrawny boy-who-gets-the-girls-he-doesn't-want."  
"That one was just horrible, what immediately makes the rest of the statement incorrect too."  
"Since when?"  
"Since your naming was just plain out horrible."  
"What!? Since wh-" George felt their coin vibrate, he picked it out of his pocket and felt it vibrate again. "Looks like he ran in trouble." He felt it vibrate again. "Trouble confirmed." He looked at Fred with a grin. "This is going to be a fun back up plan. Ready brother?"  
"I was born ready."  
"We really need to stop watching those stupid movies. Those lines of you get worse and worse."

* * *

Lee was pacing in his room, fine and all, being a backup plan, but waiting if the actual thing is going to happen or not is a disaster. The last 5 times the coin wasn't activated meaning the prank went smooth with no problems. But you never know, maybe today was his day to shine. To bring as much mayhem in the common room as possible. The last record was in hands of a certain James Potter and Sirius Black with 4.20 minutes. Fred and George hadn't managed to break the record yet but were trying every year again.  
There, the coin vibrated two times. He quickly answered with a tap and held his breath in, would this be the day… After receiving confirmation he smiled. Time to get crazy.

* * *

**AN: To my friend Moony The Sheep. Yes I did remember to write on our story. I just couldn't get this story out of my head.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Soooo.**

**I can make excuses for why I haven't been uploading for a while. I can claim schoolwork. I can claim inspiration break. I can call all sorts of things.**

**The point is, I was just lazy. I just couldn't bring myself to sit down and write an whole chapter.**

**I found out I'm happy with one shots.**

**You get ideas, you work them out and it fits and works. **

**Now my great great mind had the idea to make a multi chapter. Not my greatest moment.**

**And today was the day I said. Enough, I will finish at least 1 chapter today. So I did. It's currently 1.30 am. So don't blame me for spelling mistakes. I really tried my best.**

**Enjoy it.**

**I won't promise, but I **_**hope**_** I can upload another chapter at the end of the week. Depends on my workload.**

**AN2: I Almost forgot. **

**I don't own any of the characters, JK does. I'm just happy that we, as fandom, are able to create our own stories with her characters**

* * *

It was two am. Minerva McGonagall was walking down the hallway in her nightgown. Her hair was a mess. To say she was in a bad mood would be an understatement. After ending her shift, which included escorting Mr Malfoy and Ms Parkinson back to their dormitories, she went to bed but before she could even step in her bed one of the portraits mentioned hearing a voice and seeing a shadow around the Gryffindor tower. As written in the protocols she had to check it out. "If it's those three again I will put them in a detention they will never forget." She muttered to herself. It's always the same with those three. The twins were bad enough to handle, but since a certain Harry James Potter had joined the group the amount of complaints from the teachers had risen exponentially. A few more detententions and they would break the record of that blasted group 'the Marauders'. The latter brought a smile on her face. Even though they were a pain in the ass, from time to time they were one of the brightest students she ever met. Especially if they put their brains together.

She rounded the corner and came to an abrupt halt. She was being hit with a big deja vu. Running around were the Weasley twins, lifting up things like they were searching for something. It wasn't the first time they lost something but this was the first time she found them searching _in the middle of the night_.  
Minerva coughed to get their attention but the twins didn't hear her, or ignored her, you never knew with those two. "Mr. Weasley and Mr. Weasley. What is the meaning of this!?"  
The twins froze in place, they looked at eachother, nodded and rose as one.  
"This professor…" Fred began, "is not what it looks like."

Minerva raised an eyebrow. "It looks to me like you are out of bed at night."

"Well that would be true profesor."

"We can't deny _that_ part." Minerva raised an eyebrow again.

"And you two have probably a perfectly good reason to be out of bed this late."

"Actually professor…"

"We do…"

"Only we don't know if you would believe us."

"Try me." She couldn't deal with this now, not at two am. She would listen to their elaborate stories, put them in detention. Escort them back to the common room and finally get some well deserved sleep. She needed the energy to deal another day with a certain Dolores Umbridge. There wasn't a day she cursed Albus for letting her teach here.

"You see professor," Fred, she thought, began.

"Lee has lost something…"

"And we are helping him to find it…"

"And what, pray tell, is the object mister Jordan has lost?"

"William ."

"I'm sorry, who?"

"William ." Minerva sighed, why always at two am in the morning?

"Yes we have established that already, but who is William?"

"It's an…" but before George could finish Minerva heard two pair of footprints running towards her. She turned and saw Harry and Ginny running towards her, of course they would be in it she thought.

"Mister Potter, Miss Weasley! You better have a good reason to be up and about at this hour!"

"Professor…" Harry began but Minerva held up her hand. She knew where this was going. 'We are innocent professor', 'I swear we did nothing', she had heard them all already.

"Straight to explaining Potter!" Harry glared at a snickering Ginny before turning back to Minerva with an innocent look, not that it worked but he could always try. "You see professor. We, as in Gred, Forge, Ginny and me were talking in the common room about our homework." The twins snorted and Minerva raised an eyebrow. "Oke, maybe not homework but at least it was school related." He smiled at her with a smile that was just radiating mischief. "As I said, we were talking when Lee came running down screaming about William or something. We, as concerned students, came forwards to help him and ended up volunteering to search the castle."

"I can assume that this William is a pet of Lee?" Minerva was looking at Harry but it was Ginny who actually answered.

"It's a tarantula professor." The whole common room was screaming, accio's were flying around but no spider has been found yet. We searched the school but we can't find him yet."

"So you're telling me, that when I go to the commonroom, I won't find a silent room. But one with chaos?" 4 Pair of heads nodded.  
"Let's find out then shall we. I warn you, if you four are lying to me right now. You will be in detention for the next 3 _months_."  
"What!?"

"That's completely unfair!"

"You can't do that to us." Minerva held her hand up and the protests stopped. "Then you better not be lying Mr. Weasley, it's as simple as that." The four sighed and followed a marching McGonagall towards the commonroom. Hopefully Lee had succeeded in his task.

* * *

In the commonroom, meanwhile. Was pure chaos, people were standing on tables. Some people were randomly smashing cushions on dark places, probably to kill the spider. Others were crying or grouping in a circle to prevent being 'attacked'. There was only one person who was sitting on the couch being dejected. People were figuring he was sad about his spider but if they would have looked closer they would spot another detail. He was sitting there, staring at the 4.21 that was displayed on the screen of his stopwatch. _Why!? Why couldn't the seventh years panic faster!? It was a god damn venomous spider. What's not scary about that!?_

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?" All heads looked up towards a fuming McGonagall. For a split second everyone forgot there was a venomous spider running around, but soon enough Minerva was confronted with several students talking to her, explaining all the chaos.

"SILENCE! Alright, Miss Granger, explain please."

Hermione slowly stood up, she glanced at the pranksters behind Minerva and back to the fuming professor in question. Normally she wouldn't go along with those incredible stupid back-up plans of them but this was for a good cause. That… That toad tortured her friend. There is no way she would let Umbridge get away with it. "We woke up around a quarter to two. Someone was screaming so a lot of people ran out of their rooms to see what was going on. That's when Lee came running down the stairs from his dormitory screaming about a William or something. Everybody thought it was a joke the twins did on him, sorry guys." She looked towards the said twins and they smiled back, impressed with her performance so far.

"None taken…"  
"We would be sad…"  
"If you didn't imply us immediately…"

"For this would have been a great prank…"

"Indeed forge, wish we would have thought about it."

"Can we go back to the story now please." The twins bowed their heads and kept silent. Harry noticed they were hiding big grins on their faces.

"Thank you professor. As I was saying, Lee came running down and we thought the twins were behind it so we just laughed. Until he told us it wasn't a prank. That his spider was gone. That's when chaos broke out."

"I can hardly see why one tiny little spider can cause such an uproar _in the middle of the night."_

"His tarantula is an Brazillian tarantula."

"I see…" Minerva turned towards Lee Jordan. "Mr Jordan, can you tell me why you thought it would be a great idea to bring a _highly venomous _spider to the school?"

Lee shrugged. "I thought it would be a cool idea. The venom is highly lucrative and I was planning on selling the venom I had collected over the year."

"Tomorrow Mr. Jordan, you will report before breakfast in my office. We will talk further about this. In the meantime you will fix your problem _on your own_." She held her hand up for the protests coming from the students behind her. "It is a mess _you_ made, you will fix it. Everyone else, go to your dormitories. I will personally go to each dorm to ensure there is no spider there." People were hesitating to go back to their dorms but one look from McGonagall was enough to put them in motion. "You five," She pointed at the usual suspects, four with innocent looks, and 1 dejected student. "you will stay here downstairs and wait until I get back." She marched towards the stairs of the girls dormitory. Assuming there would be the most panic.

"What's up Lee, you look depressed? Cheer up mate, the back-up plan worked great!"

"Four point twenty one minutes." Lee sighed.

"Come again?"

"You guys all know the record for chaos in the common room?"  
"Of course..."  
"First thing we looked up when we arrived here at school..."  
"Why is that not surprising to me?"

"Because you are a smart cookie Gin-Gin."

"Well the previous record is four minutes and twenty seconds…" Lee sighed.

"Oh…"

"Bugger…"

"We really thought we had it there…"

"That we did Forge..."  
"Oke, back to the plan." Harry scolded, he would finish this prank, detention or not. "What is our new angle?"

"I think we can flip the dormitory card Gred…"

"Minnie wouldn't suspect us for offering…"

"Especially when the object in question is dangerous…"

"Good angle boys, we can work with that." Harry turned towards Lee, "You will ask Minnie for support, play the dangerous card. Talk about the spider being venomous and being smart to bring someone along."

"She will not go for that." Four pair of heads turn towards Ginny. "She will not be so stupid as to send Fred, George _and_ Lee alone, _in the middel of the night_ around the castle."

"Bugger, you are right. Alright, abandon all plans. Go for plan I."

"Plan I?"

"Improvise as you have never improvised."

"That's hardly what I call a backup plan" Ginny challenged Harry. She knew the best plans were being forced in the moment so she had to rile him up. To get that brain working on a plan.

"It worked before." Harry countered. He wasn't backing down.

"Tell me one good scenario where it worked." Think brain, just use that beautiful brain of yours!

Harry grinned. "Yesterday. I was late at class and came up with a wonderful story about you being injured and me being a noble man and bringing you to the infirmary." Ginny snorted.

"Let me guess, you had Binns."

"Trelawney actually."

"That does not count!"

"It counts when you get away with it." Fred offered.

"Shut up Fred, I'm winning!"

"Oh Miss Weasley, you and I both know that I'm just warming up."

"Well hurry up then because it looks to me that all you do is stalling."

"Your on."

"Bring it!"

"Wednesday, prank with lamps."

"Fake, could be anyone, taking claim is not improvising."

"Last Thursday, I got away with hexing Snape by claiming I saw a dementor."

"Yeah right, I know you got detentions for that, don't bullcrap me."

"Oh you drive a hard bargain Miss Weasley."

"Like you don't get turned on from this."

"You wanna see." Harry wiggled his eyebrows.

"You pull off this prank and we will see."

"For real?"

"No"

"Damn, can't believe I fell for that"

"Hello, actual pranking ideas please." Lee interjected. Those two were just warming up by the looks of it and this was not the time. This prank had to be done tonight. Those ingredients couldn't be kept till tomorrow. The usage would simmer down till it was just gone.

"Right, pranking."

"Yes O Chosen One…"

"You know, the thing where you pull off great things…"

"To make people laugh…"

"Or discredit people..."

"It's something great…"

"You should try it sometime."

"Shut up, I get it. No flirting till after the job."

"What, you're not man enough to do it at the same time?" Ginny countered.

Harry growled and opened his mouth to answer but the twins were faster.

"So improvising…"

"Who acts?"

"And who reacts?"

"Harry." Ginny simply said. As hard as it was for her to admit. He was the best at lying and improvising. It also helped that McGonagall had a soft spot for the boy. "As painful as it is for me to admit. Harry has the best change to actually pull this off." She ignored a grinning Harry and looked at the thoughtful twins. "What do you think?"

"I think you are right…"

"Harry is the man for the job…"

They both turned towards him.

"If you screw this up…"

"We will hex you until you are unconscious…"

"Then we will wake you…"

"Hex you again…"

"And then deliver you to Gin-Gin over here."

Harry nodded. "I understand," He turned towards Ginny. "What will you be wearing when you punish me?" He wiggled his eyebrows. The twins were groaning in the background but Ginny simply raised an eyebrow.

"Depends how much punishment you require."

"Noted. Now then," He saw Minerva walking down the stairs towards them, "let the games begin."

* * *

**I have to be honest, half way I ****completely abandoned plan and followed my gut on this. Let me know what you think. If you all hate it, or think its completely unrealistic. Let me know and I will consider rewriting some pieces.**


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